How To Set Up Budgets
- Bogdan Büchner
- Jan 1, 2026
- 2 min read
The DPO Budget feature allows you to track expenses against predefined spending limits and monitor your current budget status at a glance. Budgets can also help control Purchase Order creation by warning users when a limit is exceeded or preventing them from creating the Purchase Order altogether.
Create a new budget
To get started, go to Settings and open the Budgets tab. Create a new budget, give it a name, select a budget period if applicable and define the corresponding spending limit.
You can also allow an over-budget tolerance. This can be configured either as a percentage or as a fixed amount.
Create sub-budgets
DPO also allows you to create sub-budgets. These can be used to track spending in more detail while still maintaining an overview of the overall top-level budget. If users should only be able to assign Purchase Orders to sub-budgets, you can lock the top-level budget. The locked budget will still appear in the budget list, but users will not be able to select it directly and must choose one of its sub-budgets instead.
Configure budget permissions
If a user cannot see budgets while creating a Purchase Order, the required permissions may not have been enabled. A DPO Book Admin can configure these settings under Settings > Users by editing the relevant user profile. Users can be given permission either to view budgets only or to view and edit budgets within Purchase Orders.
Assign budgets to Purchase Order items
Once the budget structure has been configured, users can select the relevant budget and, where applicable, the corresponding sub-budget directly in the Purchase Order item editor. Depending on the Purchase Order amount and your budget configuration, DPO can display a warning when the spending limit is about to be exceeded or prevent the Purchase Order from being created.
Monitor budget usage
When you open a Purchase Order in the View section or from the approval list, DPO displays the percentage of the assigned budget that has already been used. If sub-budgets are being used, you can also review their individual status. This gives users and approvers a clear view of current spending against the available budget while reviewing Purchase Orders.
Keep spending aligned with your budgets
The DPO Budget feature combines predefined spending limits, sub-budgets, user permissions and real-time budget visibility within the Purchase Order process. This allows users to see how much budget has already been used and whether a new Purchase Order remains within the defined limits.
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